the aspidistra flies
by Muu
Summary: He wonders what it is she does to him- to everyone. One-Shot. Kisa/Ino. unbeta'd. Rated for language and because it is downright atrocious.


**a/n: **dude, it's been forever. and like. I don't even know. FYI, the first section of this- right before the next verse of lyrics or whatever- is more present-time, then it jumps to the past. then it follows [mostly, I believe] chronologically from there.

_All the umbrellas in London  
><em>_Couldn't hide my love for you  
><em>_All the rain on thames-side  
><em>_Couldn't stop shining through  
><em>_I dreamt of you last night  
><em>_Lying next to me in blue  
><em>_All the umbrellas in London  
><em>_couldn't hide my love for you_

"Are you awake?" the whisper is as soft as it is smooth, and he rolls over in lieu of an audible response. It's hard, almost, to keep his breath from catching in his throat, but he wasn't a member of the world's most notorious criminal organization for nothing, and he manages to swallow the noise.

She's breathtaking, he thinks, her hair undone and flowing over her shoulder onto the bed as tiny slivers of moonlight filter through the window to make her skin glow in stripes. She has both her hands on the bed as she leans over him, and she lurches forward the second she sees him shift under the sheets.

He allows his eyes to drink her in just a second longer before making room for her on the bed.

He is almost asleep when she speaks again, "_goodnight_," and suddenly watching her sleep takes precedence over actually _sleeping_.

_Run to the window and call out my name  
>We'll meet where the sun goes to hide from the rain<br>From the rain  
>From the rain<em>

_All the umbrellas in London  
>Couldn't hide my love for you<br>When everyone else is hiding  
>Rainy Sundays drunk at two <em>

God bless any fools who dared think of Hoshigaki Kisame as anything but a ruthless brute of a man. He was a monster, a murderer– a demon in his own right.

The blonde kunoichi, he thinks, is just lucky. She was in the right place at the right time. His partner was dead; Akatsuki, he knew, was losing the war and he was heavily wounded and all of this put together somehow made the idea of going to Konoha as her prisoner much more appealing.

"_I won't let them hurt you,_" she says, and he wants to believe her because her voice is as soft as it is smooth and he thinks it's the nicest thing he's heard in a long time.

They sit alone in a barren field for what feels like an eternity before he finally consents, but only on the condition that "_you heal this hole in my fucking stomach because God knows you can't carry me all the __way back to your village like this._" She just smiles at him and he wants to pat himself on the back for not calling her a vapid twat.

_You'll whisper sweet lies to me  
><em>_And one of them will be true  
><em>_All the umbrellas in London  
><em>_Couldn't hide my love for you_

They're less than fifteen minutes away from her village borders when he realizes just what he's agreed to. He keeps walking, but the wheels in his head are turning, and when he thinks he's devised the perfect plan of escape, she speaks.

"_Please don't._" he wants to spit on her. She goes on to tell him that she will personally oversee his interrogation, his wounds, his _punishment_, but only if he comes willingly.

Again, she speaks with a voice as soft as it is smooth, and he's reminded of a nicer time in life. They reach the border before he can come to a decision. He sees the wall of Anbu and inwardly flinches because he knows what is next.

He is pleasantly surprised when a wave of her hand forces the Anbu to part for their entry into Konoha. _Maybe she's not so bad,_ he thinks.

_The gloom of the city at evening is still  
><em>_You whisper, "come to me"  
><em>_And I always will  
><em>_Always will  
><em>_Always will_

The next few weeks consist of grueling interrogation after grueling interrogation. Despite the pain, he keeps his mouth shut, because Hoshigaki Kisame may have been a monster and a murderer and a demon in his own right, but he was also _loyal._

The blonde who brought him into this hellhole did not keep her promise of being his sole interrogator, but he eventually makes peace with the fact that she is his nurse, if nothing else. Nonetheless, he begrudgingly ignores her until a particularly torturous session with the man who he came to refer to as _a pain in my ass_ (but was, in all actuality, just Morino Ibiki).

He is in her apartment on her couch and she is kneeling beside him on the floor, hands glowing with chakra as she heals his busted kneecaps.

"_You should tell them what they want to know,_" she warns, and his head still reels at the sound of her voice (_that is as soft as it is smooth_), "_it will be so much easier on you._"

He waits until she is done healing both his legs before trying to knee her in the face.

In spite of his retaliation against her advice, he tells Ibiki everything he wants to know (_and more_) the next day, her voice haunting his thoughts as he does so.

_All the rain in this town  
><em>_And still the sky is blue  
><em>_Saint James Square is teeming with doves  
><em>_And that's what set me free_

He wonders what it is she does to him. He's been in the village no less than six months and no more than nine, and honestly, he wonders what it is she does to _everyone _(because he was pretty sure S-rank criminals didn't stay in the homes of resident ninja, no matter how crowded the jails or skilled the keeper).

He's watching her get ready for bed one day; watches her scrub her face free of paint, watches her brush her teeth, watches her run a brush through her long white-blonde hair. It all seems very dull and normal and girly, but when she's done, she turns and her eyes catch his eyes and suddenly she just _smiles._

And in that brief moment, he thinks he understands everything.

_Across the darkening city  
><em>_To an attic room for two  
><em>_All the umbrellas in London  
><em>_Couldn't hide my love for you_

He throws a strong arm over her waist as they spoon in what was now his (_but was still really hers_) bed and against his better judgment he suddenly decides it would be nice to maybe kiss the girl.

His lips brush her cheek so softly she doesn't so much as stir, but he doesn't mind terribly.

Hours later, he wakes to the sound of her stifling sobs into a pillow and he says nothing; just gives her shoulder a light squeeze and lets her turn and stifle her sobs in his chest instead. His lips rest against the crown of her head as she apologizes, says "_I'm so sorry I tried to change their minds I'm so sorry_" and he realizes with a small twinge of melancholy that her voice isn't as soft or as smooth (_or full of promise_) as it was when they first met.

He breathes in the scent of her hair and decides he doesn't care because her voice is still the nicest thing he's heard in _forever_, and she was still _perfect_ even if she couldn't keep a promise to save her life.

_I counted all the lights  
><em>_They don't shine as bright  
><em>_They don't pierce the night  
><em>_Like you do  
><em>_Like you do_

**a/n: **if it sucks, I'm sorry. It has been a long, long while.

For those of you who are happy to see this, I have to give credit where credit is due: **MIKITSU SILVERQUICK** is to blame. Hardly know her, but she sparked my old love (cough, obsession) for this pairing.

I know this fic is all over the place. I'm really, really very sorry about that.

And the repetition. Especially sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. I'll probably regret this in the morning.


End file.
